


Doing Christmas Right This Time

by ThatRavenclawBitch



Series: 25 Days of Ficlets [12]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 25 Days of Fic-mas, Christmas Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:41:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21666835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRavenclawBitch/pseuds/ThatRavenclawBitch
Summary: “You really don’t like having fun, do you?”Day 2 of 25 Days of Ficmas 2019.
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Lacey/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Series: 25 Days of Ficlets [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1201828
Comments: 18
Kudos: 43





	Doing Christmas Right This Time

December the 24th was, in Lacey French’s experience, a dismal day.

It wasn’t that Lacey was a Scrooge. It wasn’t Bah Humbug and all that. Christmas was, in theory, her favorite holiday. There’d been a time when the sight of red velvet bows and twinkle lights strung up in every store front would have her heart skipping a beat. The sound of Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra crooning out holiday standards, the smells of gingerbread and evergreen, they were as dear to Lacey as the next person. But recently, well, recently she’d felt like she had more in common with the Grinch when the holidays rolled around.

There was just so much goddamn pressure to enjoy yourself in the month of December and as much as Lacey liked to have a good time, she didn’t like someone else dictating the when and where. December was cold as fuck in Boston and the days were so short that she never saw the sun except shining weakly through the frosted and Christmas decal laden front windows of the diner. When she trudged in to work at 6:30 AM and when she got off her shift twelve hours later it was the same shade of absolute pitch.

And the diner’s song selection didn’t help matters. A 90-minute loop of the same batch of songs would drive even the biggest Christmas fan batty. There were only so many times a person could listen to Mele Kalikimaka in an afternoon without losing all Christmas spirit.

So, by the time the 24th rolled around, Lacey was in no mood for festivities. The diner was empty on Christmas Eve and Lacey was leaned against the counter, counting the minutes until she could head home, wash the scent of fried meats off herself and drink herself silly in the glow of her small tabletop tinsel tree. One good thing about Christmas was that she had the day off tomorrow. She could get as shit faced as she liked without consequence.

With that thought bolstering her, Lacey perked up, grabbing one of Granny’s gingerbread men to nibble on while she passed the time.

It was a half hour until close when _he_ came in, and Lacey’s evening improved even further. Mr. Gold had been a regular at the diner for as long as she’d worked here, the past eleven months or so. He was older, handsome, with an accent to die for and the most perfect head of hair she’d even seen. He always sat in her section, he always left a good tip, and he always made her just a bit weak in the knees, which, for a girl like Lacey, was no easy feat.

He was dressed, as usual, in a three-piece suit, this one black with a faint pinstripe. He’d paired it with a deep maroon silk shirt and tie with matching pocket square. Hints of gold winked at her from his cufflinks and his tiepin as he shrugged his thick black overcoat off and laid it across the seat next to him. He was shorter than average and slight but he radiated power and strength despite his stature. Lacey knew he did something important in the city, something where he was in charge of large sums of money. She always thought he was slumming it a bit by coming to the diner, but he seemed to like the burgers.

Well, the burgers and her.

“Lacey,” he said, glancing up from his menu and giving her a quick once over as she made her way to his table. “You’re looking very festive this evening.”

Lacey shrugged, giving a slight roll of her eyes. Her usual red and white uniform was accompanied today by a red and white Santa hat pulled down over her ponytail, complete with jingle bells on the tassel. Granny had been rather insistent on the added headgear. There was a pile in a box back in the kitchen, Santa hats, elf ears, even a few pairs of reindeer antlers that lit up in a garish display.

“Well, I try,” she said by way of answer. “What about you? Feeling festive tonight?”

Gold gave her a choice eyebrow. “If I were do you think I’d be here?”

Lacey crossed her arms against her chest. She wondered why he was here. She knew he had a son from their conversations though she got the impression they weren’t close. She had the distinct impression he was divorced, probably not a recent development. Even so, who went to a diner by themselves on Christmas Eve? Unless he had no one else. Unless he was as lonely as she was.

“Well, I’m here,” she pointed out.

“Yes and you have no choice in the matter,” Gold quipped. “What’s my excuse?”

“We have good eggnog?” she provided.

Gold wrinkled up his nose. “Coffee,” he said. “Black. And a hamburger...”

“No mayo, extra pickles,” Lacey finished for him, knowing his order by heart. “I’ll put it in.”

She spun around, heading back to the kitchen to leave the order with the fry cook when she saw them, the assorted holiday headdresses disposed of by the wait staff who’d already taken off early. It was such a slow night that the only people left to man the diner were Lacey and the cook. Everyone else had somewhere better to be.

On impulse, Lacey snapped up one of the more garish pair of antlers and put them in her apron pocket before pouring Gold’s coffee. Then she headed back to his table with the coffee in one hand and the antlers in the other.

She set the coffee mug down with a clink and Gold looked up at her, his dark eyes focused on the antlers in her hand.

“What in God’s name are those?” he asked.

“Antlers,” she said, holding them up for his inspection.

“Trading out Santa for Rudolph?” he asked.

“Nope,” she said with a shake of her head. “They’re for you.”

He snorted a laugh.

“No,” he said succinctly.

“C’mon, Gold,” Lacey whined, waggling the antlers in his direction. “You have to wear them.”

“I think not,” he sneered, looking at the reindeer antlers in her hands with disgust.

“Why not?” Lacey forged on bravely. “And you can’t just say it’s because you’ll look ridiculous because who is here to see you but me?”

“What if I don’t want to look ridiculous in front of you?” he asked, those melting chocolate brown eyes taking on a puppy like quality she wouldn’t be swayed by.

Lacey bit her lip, considering him for a moment.

“I think you’d be hard pressed to look ridiculous in front of the waitress in the funny hat.”

She shook her head for emphasis, the jingle bells ringing out in the empty diner, but Gold still looked unconvinced.

Lacey sighed.

“You really don’t like having fun, do you?” she asked, leaning her free hand against the table and cocking her hip to the side.

Gold’s tongue darted out to lick his lips as his gaze ran down Lacey’s form from her silly hat to the thick black tights she wore under her short red uniform skirt, a concession to the cold weather and hardly the sexiest thing she owned. Gold didn’t seem to mind.

“Well, that depends entirely on your definition of fun,” Gold said, his voice lowering in pitch until it was positively sinful. His eyes flashed, dark and full of promise. Lacey swallowed thickly, clamping her thighs together at the sudden tension in the air between them.

She had long suspected Gold wanted to sleep with her. Their banter had always been of a flirtatious bent and she’d caught him checking her out a time or two. He’d never been this blatant about it though. Lacey was used to being the forward one when it came to this sort of thing and she’d long ago decided she wanted Gold. It was a miracle she’d been waiting on him for almost a full year without anything happening. Lacey realized with a jolt exactly why that was.

She liked him. _Really_ liked him. 

She wanted him to ask her out on a date, something that would probably never happen in a million years. So she flirted and smiled and went home at night to pleasure herself to the thought of him, but she never took it further. Because if he got what he wanted, if he fucked her, she’d probably never see him again.

“My definition of fun,” she said, her voice coming out a little raspier than she’d have liked. “Is seeing you wear these antlers.”

She held up the offending headpiece once more and Gold huffed a laugh, reaching out to take them.

“As my lady commands,” he said, giving her a wink before placing the antlers on his head. He raised his chin, shaking his hair back from his face. “How do I look?”

“Very distinguished,” Lacey said, trying not to laugh. The blinking lights on the antlers looked absolutely ridiculous in combination with his suit and tie. It didn’t detract from his looks however. Lacey was fairly certain he could pull off glitter body paint and leather pants if he put his mind to it.

She felt the heat rising in her cheeks at that particular mental image and shook her head to clear it.

“You make a very handsome reindeer,” she added.

Gold blinked at her, his expression going from silly to intense so quickly it took her breath away. The air between them was heavy again, the moment ruined by a loud “Order up!” from the kitchen.

“That’ll…that’ll be your burger,” she stuttered out before rushing off to collect his plate.

“Lacey,” Gold called after her and she stopped, turning to face him. “I think I’ll add another burger to my order. And box them up to go.”

“To go,” she repeated, hardly a question.

“Aye,” he agreed. “What time are you off?”

“Fifteen minutes,” she answered immediately.

Gold took a long sip of his coffee, finishing it off before thunking the cup back on to the table.

“I can wait,” he said.

“Mr. Gold,” Lacey asked, bracing her hand on her hip. “Are you asking me to dinner?”

A slow smile crossed his lips, his dimples on display.

“Well, everywhere else is booked up. What do you say?”

Lacey bit her lip, weighing her options. She wanted Gold. She could have him and a free dinner to boot. There were certainly worse ways to spend a Christmas Eve. And even if she did never see him again, what a way to cap off the year.

“Alright,” she agreed.


End file.
